June 2013 MICHIGAN Sault Ste. Marie 5 - One More View of The Soo

First, lunch. Mike's cousins had recommended the Palace Restaurant, serving Mexican and American food. Outside it looked a little run down, but inside was quite classy. A good bar and good food. I had a raspberry margarita with my veggie burrito. Mike had a Corona with his chili rellenos (a little different style than what he is used to, but good.) Only weird thing was that we had to ask for tortilla chips. 

We met again with the cousins and their grand-daughters for yet another perspective of the canals and locks. In past years, Mike and I had seen them from outside the security fence and from the high viewing stand. On this trip so far, we had seen them from inside the fence, actually walked across two locks, and Deb surveyed them from the International Bridge looking down. This afternoon we are seeing things from within--actually going on a boat trip through the locks.

We got to the tour boat office about 2:15pm and a boat had just left at 2pm. Next one at 4:30pm, so too long to wait around. To fill the time gap, we went to the "Tower of History." Mike and I had delayed seeing this spot in the past, thinking it was another old artifact museum (we'd seen lots of these) and the first floor was just that. 

BUT the major attraction was a 210-foot tower with three observation decks, glassed-in and open-air. It was a very clear day, so we scoped 360 degree views of the area for about 20 miles out. There were panels describing details to help spot highlights of what you were seeing.

The best part was that three long freighters were traversing the locks and we had an excellent view of the process and the big ships. I got a lot of good photos from here.

Come 4:15, we were back at the boat dock ready to board. The ride was about two-hours long and packed with so much to see. First we saw the hydro-electric plant from the river side. Very impressive. Then we floated past a huge freighter and tiny (in comparison) tugboat. The tugs drop off supplies and mail to the freighters as they pass through the locks.

Next we entered the locks. We pulled in at the Lower St. Mary's River end and were secured with thick ropes. The heavy gates closed behind us and the lock slowly filled with water. It took about 10 minutes to raise the water level to the height of the Upper St. Mary's River. The lock gates on the west side opened and we motored into the river again, except we were 21 feet higher in elevation. Can you imagine a 1,000-foot freighter going through this process! Way cool.

Then we motored under the International vehicle bridge and through the railway bridge area. We made a long U-turn and came into view of much heavy machinery and factories on the Canadian side, still producing steel products. We ventured into inlets to get a closer look of these manufacturing areas.

Very interesting view of the massiveness of the steel industry at one time. Big business. We heard that at one time there were 30,000 employees here at peak production, but now less than 6,000.

We continued past the rapids and nature areas I saw earlier in the day from the bridge above, and then entered the smaller Canadian lock. No passport needed for the boat ride.

This time we started on the higher water end and in the lock were transferred to the lower end, 21-feet down. This lock has park area on both sides and visitors are allowed to walk across the lock gates at any time that a boat is not in transit. 


Here you can see a building by the side of the lock. When we started our journey, it was at eye level, but at the end of the process, we found ourselves 21-feet lower and looking up at that same building. This is all pretty fascinating. I've been to The Soo many times, but did not really get the gist of how the locks work until I actually passed through them.


It is also good to know that there is an emergency system set up on all the locks, in case one should be damaged or need maintenance. This system keeps the upper river area from quickly flooding down into the lower river area. 

As we leisurely continued down the St. Mary's back to port, we passed by downtown SSM in Canada and the Canadian Bushplane Museum, and again past the hydro-electric plant. It was a fascinating boat ride and we would definitely  do it again.

At that point, Emily and Madison were picked up by friends and us four big folks continued on our merry way to do some more land-side sightseeing and dinner. We saw the home Mike had lived in a short while as a kid, the lot where his cousin Don's childhood home had been, the really cool location of a new brewery, and more. Finally, dropped into the Kewadin Casino for dinner. After that we looked at some American Indian art and took a peek into the casino (but did not gamble).

Our last stop was the parking lot of LSSU where we had a great view of the International Bridge at night. It was lit up for the weekend with red, white, and blue lights on the U.S. "hump" and red on the Canadian "hump." Very cool. Here's the U.S. side.

We got dropped off at the hotel and cousin Chris had a cute good-bye surprise for us--some knitted potholders and a very cleverly made tote bag. The material was cat food bags. I know this sounds crazy, but it is REEEEALY cool and I've used it a few times already at home.

Thanks guys for an educational and fun two tour days in The Soo.